Dim.
Empty.
The dizziness seemed to last a very long time, but in reality it was only a few short seconds.
Shen Zhuo closed his eyes, then opened them as his vision gradually focused. He found himself sitting in a wooden chair with a backrest, both hands tied behind the chair. The abandoned warehouse was filled with a damp, salty tang of blood and rust.
A familiar, pleased voice came from ahead. “Hello, Supervisor Shen.”
It was Liu Sanji.
The short man with narrow eyes and a square face stood in the shadow under the fan, likely feeling that he had perfectly completed Mr. Rong’s assignment. His expression was quite cheerful. “Didn’t expect us to meet again so soon. Interview question: are you surprised?”
“...” Shen Zhuo spoke, his voice a little hoarse. “I’m more surprised that the first thing I saw after opening my eyes was you, and not that Rong Qi.”
Liu Sanji snapped immediately, “Shut up. You’re a lowly ordinary human. What right do you have to make Mr. Rong come see you in person?”
Liu Sanji’s voice and expression were both severe, but Shen Zhuo only gave a faint sneer. “If I’m not mistaken, that Mr. Rong of yours was once burned to charcoal three years ago. But because his evolution direction is extremely special, he should possess some kind of revival ability from residual cells. The reason he’s still in a wheelchair now is probably because his evolution isn’t complete and his body hasn’t yet reached its peak state. Correct?”
Liu Sanji was just about to rebuke him for disrespecting Mr. Rong, but Shen Zhuo did not give him a chance to open his mouth.
“He seems very eager to kill me, yet he hides behind the scenes and only dares to send subordinates to intercept my car and stage a hit-and-run. I assume that’s probably because he’s either a coward who doesn’t dare kill anyone, or a cripple who can’t do it himself... We’re only chatting. Why are you shaking?”
“Shut up! Shut up!” Liu Sanji was both shocked and afraid. “You lowly ordinary human—you dare disrespect Mr. Rong?!”
“You’re merely a genetically inferior Class D. You’re not that different from an ordinary human.” Shen Zhuo said wearily, “Pardon my bluntness. Call out that Mr. Rong. You are not qualified to speak with me.”
Sure enough, Liu Sanji was provoked past reason by this barrage. He rolled up his sleeve and pointed at the back of his left hand. “What did you say? Who’s genetically inferior?! I’m Class A now!”
“...”
Liu Sanji did not receive the surprised expression he had been expecting from Shen Zhuo. Shen Zhuo simply looked at the blood-red Class A mark, then after a moment, exhaled with unclear meaning. “So that’s it... second evolution.”
“What’s so that’s it?!”
Liu Sanji glared at him, only to see that Shen Zhuo did not answer immediately. After a long while, Shen Zhuo said, “You may have been used by that Mr. Rong as a disposable test subject.”
Liu Sanji had been short since childhood, so his mind was especially delicate. The thing he hated most in life was being looked down on, and he was particularly sensitive to other people’s silent disdain. Yet a person like Shen Zhuo—with his rare education, background, and appearance—gave off a subtle but intense sense of mockery even when he sat there saying nothing and doing nothing.
At this moment, Liu Sanji felt it with painful clarity. “Don’t sit there spouting nonsense. What test subject? Someone like you, who can’t even evolve—”
“You secretly embezzled Mr. Rong’s evolution source. After being captured, you could only obey his orders and assassinate me in order to survive. Your payment was that he would let you undergo second evolution and become Class A. But what you don’t know is...” Shen Zhuo said, “evolution is never without cost. There is a limit to the evolutionary intensity each person can endure.”
Liu Sanji pointed furiously at the back of his hand. “Don’t give me useless crap. Do you see this A?!”
Shen Zhuo cut him off. “Do you know what the greatest lie in this world is?”
Liu Sanji choked.
“It is ‘all men are born equal.’”
Shen Zhuo looked straight at the bewildered Liu Sanji, his voice clear and calm—almost mercilessly so.
“In 1651, Thomas Hobbes proposed that humanity had collectively created a great god—Leviathan—and that every person who made up Leviathan was equal. Therefore, maintaining peace became a natural law established jointly by all individuals. After the large-scale evolution five years ago, in order to preserve that value, we did our utmost to conceal the connection between evolution and genetics from the public, because the truth is far too cruel for the vast majority of people in this world.”
“Some people can evolve into S-Class. Some people can only evolve to Class D. Others cannot evolve at all. Genes are not equal at birth.”
“Forcing yourself across classes will overload your genes. It is like forcibly stretching a short person taller. It causes the gene chains throughout the body to tear apart and all chromosomes to deactivate. Have you seen victims of nuclear radiation? It’s similar. More terrifying than death.”
The empty warehouse was extremely quiet. Only the fan blades rotated overhead, giving off layered mechanical sounds.
Liu Sanji’s pupils contracted sharply. If one looked closely, one would see his fingertips trembling slightly. But after a moment, he sneered. “Don’t make me laugh. You can’t even undergo Class D evolution. You’re the one with the most inferior genes. Why should I believe this ridiculous bullshit?”
“Sorry. I come from an academic background, so I speak rather directly.” Shen Zhuo said calmly, “You are not only a test subject. You are a disposable-consumable test subject. Accept reality.”
Impossible.
Absurd.
Liu Sanji nearly burst into curses at once, but deeper suspicion, fear, and an intense desire to prove himself overwhelmed everything else. After a long moment, the corner of his mouth twisted into a cold smile. “You say I’m a disposable consumable? You’re the real disposable consumable. Mr. Rong said that as long as you die, he’ll give me the highest reward. He can even make me immortal...”
He raised a hand and shouted, “Might as well put your corpse to some use too. Become part of what I devour!”
A rustling came from the shadows behind him, as if many sticky, heavy things were sliding across the dust-covered floor. It made the scalp crawl.
Immediately afterward, an extremely deformed silhouette emerged from the darkness.
It was a huge, bloated... corpse mass!
The corpse mass was enormous, four or five meters tall, and had been haphazardly pieced together from dozens of rotting corpses. Dense torsos, hands, and feet were tangled and fused into one mass, and countless decaying palms and soles supported it as it moved across the floor.
Dozens of faces—men and women, old and young—were scattered all over its body. Every face was twisted in expression, its deathly complexion blue-purple, squeezed here and there between its wildly flailing hands and feet. The sight was horrifying beyond words.
“With every evolutionist it devours, its power increases. That is why, until now, it has never devoured an ordinary human.” Liu Sanji lifted his head and stared at Shen Zhuo with a sinister smile. “Today, I’ll make an exception and grant you that honor, Supervisor Shen.”
Boom!
The floor shook with a heavy crash. The corpse mass “walked” up to Shen Zhuo. Every dead face across its body opened its mouth at the same time, expressions distorted and ferocious, as though the agony of their deaths had been replayed once more.
Immediately afterward, countless rotting arms stretched from the corpse mass and grabbed toward Shen Zhuo’s throat—
“I said,” Liu Sanji heard the Shenhai City Supervisor’s calm voice say, “you are not qualified to speak with me.”
A flash of bright blade-light sliced through the air, and the rotting hands flew upward.
Immediately afterward, Shen Zhuo kicked the heavy corpse mass away. It flew through the air, crashed into Liu Sanji, and slammed into the base of the wall with a clang!
Wall dust poured down like a waterfall, and smoke and debris filled the air. Liu Sanji was nearly hit hard enough by the corpse mass to cough up blood. Clutching his chest, he choked violently. “You... how did you... you...”
Then his eyes widened in shock.
Shen Zhuo was standing up from the chair not far away. At some point, a coldly gleaming folding knife had appeared in his hand. His expression had barely changed as he rubbed the wrists that had just been tied behind him.
Shen Zhuo wore black uniforms year-round, making his wrists look especially pale. The red marks left by the bindings were therefore very obvious. At first glance, the image could even stir certain vulgar imaginings. But when the Chief Supervisor of Shenhai City walked over step by step, that careless coldness and killing intent made it feel as if every fall of his leather shoes landed on someone’s throat.
With a heavy thud, Shen Zhuo stepped on Liu Sanji’s forehead. The terrifying force immediately drove the back of Liu Sanji’s head into the cracked wall.
“You... why...”
“Do you know what this is?”
Under the crushing pressure of his sole, Liu Sanji barely managed to focus. In Shen Zhuo’s hand was a metal injection tube. He could not tell what was inside it. On the metal cap was a clearly engraved letter A.
“The HRG Plan, also known as the Human Regeneration Plan. The nuclear deterrent of the age of evolution. The sword of Damocles hanging over both all humanity and evolutionists. The final talisman preserving peace for a seven-billion-strong race.”
Shen Zhuo pulled out the needle, tugged off his tie and tossed it aside, then casually loosened two shirt buttons.
“If all beings are unequal from birth, then I will make them equal after birth. If the old Leviathan has collapsed into pieces, then I will rebuild a new kingdom of equality upon the ruins...”
He tilted his head slightly and drove the needle into his carotid artery.
“And ultimately realize peace once more.”
Liu Sanji’s eyes widened to the extreme.
He saw meteor-like deep-blue light flash through all the blood vessels in Shen Zhuo’s body. Immediately afterward, a powerful force burst from him in an instant. Then Shen Zhuo gently removed his black leather glove. On the back of his left hand, where an evolution rank was usually displayed, two old scars crossed into a vicious X.
At that moment, a blood-red brand was gradually surfacing over the scar.
A.
Shen Zhuo gripped Liu Sanji by the throat with one hand, lifted his entire body off the ground, and pinned him suspended against the wall. In his deep, dark pupils, Liu Sanji’s terrified face was reflected.
“Tell me everything about ‘Mr. Rong.’”
“For every additional sentence you say, I’ll leave you one more unbroken bone.”
Bang, bang, bang, bang! Bang, bang!
Sparks burst and shell casings flew. Several officers fired like mad, but they could not stop the walls of the coffin from pressing closer and closer. Some of them could not even straighten their legs anymore.
The sound of grinding bones creaked. Bai Sheng braced one hand above his head, but he could not stop the coffin lid from already pressing down onto him. Even his elbow joint made a clear sound under the pressure.
“I told you. It absolutely cannot be opened from the inside. That’s why I like to call this ability...” Noda Shunsuke looked at Bai Sheng and smiled. “Spatial Meat Grinder.”
“S-Class isn’t much after all. Die.”
Bai Sheng’s hair, which always stuck up arrogantly, had been pressed down. His usual faintly flippant expression had also vanished, instead revealing the deep, sharp lines of his features themselves. For once, his tone carried no trace of teasing. It was even a little cold.
“Do you know where you went wrong?”
Victory was clearly in his grasp, yet for some reason, Noda Shunsuke sensed a thread of condescending contempt in Bai Sheng’s eyes. “You—”
“No ability in this world can be called absolute, because...”
Bai Sheng pressed one hand against the coffin lid that was drawing nearer and nearer. Then he pressed his other hand up as well. His ten fingers forced their way into the black barrier, the unimaginable force causing all ten fingertips to split open and bleed at once.
Under Noda Shunsuke’s shocked gaze, the tendons and bones in Bai Sheng’s arms stood out. His muscles tensed to the limit as he tore open a crack in the coffin that was “absolutely impossible to open from the inside.”
“—The only absolute thing is power.”
Rip!
The black barrier was torn in half, and the spatial coffin collapsed immediately.
Bai Sheng burst out of the coffin. His blood-soaked palm grasped a long blade from thin air. His face was still as water, his momentum like an arrow loosed from the string.
Clang!!
The two men’s blades collided, sending heavy sparks flying.
An output-type Class A was already terrifying in close combat. Add a rare S-Class to the mix, and it was simply two human tanks bombarding each other. Blades crossed like a hurricane sweeping through. Broken bricks all over the floor shot into the air, and hundreds upon thousands of blade arcs erupted in an instant. Yoko had just been about to rush forward and help when, with a thunderous boom, Bai Sheng kicked Noda Shunsuke hard in the chest. Noda Shunsuke flew backward and instantly smashed half a wall down!
“Brother!”
Bai Sheng drove one blade through Noda Shunsuke’s shoulder and nailed him to the wall. He spat, “Dumbass.” Then he yanked the blade free, turned like lightning, and threw it through the air. Every coffin was broken open from the outside at the same time, and the officers who had nearly been crushed into meat paste crashed to the floor.
Chen Miao did not even have time to climb up. “Brother Bai, watch out—”
Before his words fell, Noda Shunsuke had silently appeared behind Bai Sheng and brought his katana chopping toward the back of Bai Sheng’s neck!
That strike would have sent blood spraying three feet high. Every bit of timing had been pushed to its peak. At this moment, it was already too late for Bai Sheng to turn and kick him to death. He could only raise an arm to block first.
But at that instant, a dagger spun in from outside the window like lightning.
Clang!
The metal impact rang deafeningly. The dagger knocked the katana away, then drove heavily into the brick wall with a thunk.
Everyone looked outside the window at the same time. “Supervisor?” “Senior!”
Shen Zhuo stepped onto the windowsill with a bang, his lean figure taut as a bow, his black-and-white features cold and stark. With one sharp movement, he hurled a wretched-looking man into the room.
It was Liu Sanji.
“How did you...” Bai Sheng had not finished speaking when, with a glance, he saw a bright-red Class A mark on the back of Shen Zhuo’s left hand and froze in surprise.
Shen Zhuo did not look at anyone. “Move!”
He did not need to give the order a second time. Chen Miao had already flown several meters back. Shen Zhuo slashed downward with one hand, the motion so sharp and decisive that in the next instant, outside the room, midair—
With a thunderous boom, lightning poured down like a waterfall, piercing through the building and drenching the Noda siblings head to toe!
“Fuck your ancestors...” Noda Shunsuke rolled across the floor and staggered up in a sorry state. A bloody hole had been punched through his left shoulder, and smoke rose from his entire body from head to toe.
The moment Shen Zhuo appeared, he knew today’s operation had completely failed. Liu Sanji, that useless bastard, really could not be counted on; he could not even keep watch over a pretty-boy Supervisor who looked like some delicate girl. Now, even if he wanted to abduct Shen Zhuo again, with Bai Sheng present, there was no way to do it. He could not even afford to delay half a second longer.
He could only tear the air open with a backhanded motion, swiftly forming a pitch-black spatial tunnel, then drag Yoko inside and vanish.
Bai Sheng’s killing intent had not yet subsided, and he moved to chase them. Shen Zhuo stopped him with a stern shout. “Come back! You don’t know where the other side leads. It’s too dangerous!”
The spatial tunnel rapidly closed. Noda Shunsuke stood in the darkness, his eyes flashing with clear unwillingness. He wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth with one hand and stared maliciously at Shen Zhuo. “You’re fucking something else...”
Bai Sheng was instantly enraged. “Fuck your father—”
But before he could launch himself forward and tear Shunsuke apart with his bare hands, Shen Zhuo moved even faster. His left hand yanked Bai Sheng back, while electric current burst bright from the palm of his right hand.
“I have even more in me,” Shen Zhuo said mildly.
A long whip of electricity lashed across the air. Noda Shunsuke only had time to lean back before the tip of the whip sliced viciously across the side of his face, bringing up a splash of blood.
“Go back and tell that coward surnamed Rong,” Shen Zhuo said. The long whip coiled around his hand, illuminating half of his face with a beautiful, chilling light. “Don’t just keep sending subordinates to die. Now get lost.”
Noda Shunsuke gritted his teeth and covered the side of his face. Blood overflowed between his fingers. In an instant, the spatial tunnel sealed shut.
The two of them vanished without a trace. Only a cloud of charred black smoke remained in midair.
Author’s Note:
An evolution direction is connected to a person’s own obsession. Su Jiqiao’s main ability direction is psychic, and his obsession was: I’m already this outstanding, so why can’t you ever see me? And that is how he became the only person to achieve a Class A evolution in appearance value.
Why was this written from Bai Sheng’s perspective? First, because this cannon fodder’s evolution in attractiveness will give Bai Sheng a lot of competitive motivation later. Second, this is Bai Sheng’s first time seeing Su Jiqiao, while everyone else already knew him.
To anyone in the comments stepping on the bottom and demanding the bottom be replaced: leave this novel immediately.
To anyone in the comments stepping on the top and demanding the top be replaced: leave this novel immediately.
Absolutely do not use the opportunity of this controversy to drag other authors into my comment section or start identifying other readers’ “fandom allegiance.” Anything like that will be deleted on sight.